Ford Fiesta winning hearts and minds - and wallets - in Europe

The Ford Fiesta has already won us over -– twice – and we can't even buy the car yet. But European buyers are nabbing so many Fiestas that the Blue Oval is now enjoying a 10% market share in Europe based on the strength of the compact's sales alongside the Focus and Transit. It's the first time that Ford has had a double-digit European market share since September 2001, and it keeps Ford solidly in the number two spot overall behind Volkswagen.

In all but three of Europe's 19 markets, Ford says it has improved its showing. Already this year, there have been 108,000 Fiestas sold, with 52,800 of those coming in March alone. The market share triumph is even sweeter seeing that overall industry sales took a double-digit fall, but Ford is getting more of what's left. There was no cheating with fleet sales, either: retail sales were up 13% year-on-year. Only France, Switzerland, and Italy showed declines. Appreciate the tip, Preston.